Narcissism in Men More Prominent Than in Women, Study Finds

According to a new study, narcissism in men is a lot more prominent than narcissism in women is.

Women can finally get a heads-up on men when it comes to who’s more egotistical and self-obsessed. According to the findings of a study that was released by researchers at Ohio State University, narcissism in men is a lot more prominent than narcissism in women. Here are the details.

According to the study, which followed men and women who post pictures of themselves online in social media networks frequently, narcissism in men and psychopathy is far more prominent than narcissism in women is. In addition, the men who took the time to edit such “selfies” were found to be more narcissistic than all the rest combined.

A related study that was published in the Psychological Bulletin, authored by researchers from University at Buffalo School of Management in New York, found some shocking results. By analyzing data from over 30 years of research that included over 475,000 people, they were able to distinguish the gender relation to narcissism, focusing on three distinct attributes: leadership and authority, exhibitionism and entitlement.

Entitlement turned out to have the biggest gender difference. The study found that men are far more likely to exploit people when they have a sense of entitlement and feel that they should be or are granted certain privileges.

Leadership and authority came in second place, with the study’s authors noting that the assertive desire to gain more power was far more prominent in men.

Exhibitionism remained relatively the same across the board, though. The researchers concluded that both sexes were just as likely to become self-obsessed or vain.

The study also concluded that neither sex will lose their narcissistic identity as time passes, nor will it increase, either.

“Individuals tend to observe and learn gender roles from a young age, and may face backlash for deviating from society’s expectations,” one of the study’s authors wrote. “In particular, women often receive harsh criticism for being aggressive or authoritative, which creates pressure for women, more so than for men, to suppress displays of narcissistic behavior.”

Wondering if you are narcissistic or not? We did some digging and found this fancy Narcissism Test on Psych Central. You can take this short form quiz and get a better idea of whether or not your personality traits deem you a narcissist.

Do you think that narcissism affects both genders equally? Or do you think that men outweigh women or vice-versa? Let us know in your comments below.